by Nia Arthurs
“It’s okay,” I said to Persia who sat perched on the edge of the cubicle, biting at her nails, “but you write the way that you talk. Make your essay more formal, like you’re speaking to the Queen of England. Let it flow, but use more formal diction.”
“Formal diction; got it.” Persia said. “Thank you so much, Susan. You’ve been a life saver.”
I got up to gather my books, “Of course. If there’s anything that you need, just let me know.”
I stepped out of the cubicle to get to my 11:00 a.m. class and froze when she said,
“Well…” I turned to face her, “I don’t have a babysitter for Joshua tonight and I wanted to spend a few hours at the library …”
“Persia, what are you asking me?”
She looked away and scratched at the scarred wooden top of the library cubicle, “Normally I’d ask Monica to do this but she has a date tonight. Would you mind watching Joshua?”
Take care of a two year old? Piece of cake!
“Sure,” I agreed. “Bring him over to Mia’s Designs, the boutique on Joy Street. I’ll be there and then I can take him to my boyfriend’s house. We can watch him together.”
“Thanks a lot,” Persia said humbly from her seat, “I know I wasn’t the nicest to you in the past and I’m really sorry about that.”
I shrugged, “It’s okay. There’s a viral video of me circulating online. It wasn’t your fault that you saw it.”
Persia nodded, “I’m sure whatever reason you had for vomiting on that man was a good one.”
“Thank you, Persia,” I laughed softly. “So when are you bringing him?”
“Around four.”
“Perfect,” I settled the plan and then scurried to my class.
True to her word, at four o’clock baby Joshua was delivered by his beautiful mama to the door of Mia’s Designs. I accepted him from Persia’s hands and then hefted the baby bag onto his shoulder.
“He doesn’t drink milk all the time anymore. He likes his fruits and mashed foods. Oh and spaghetti. If he starts to cry, just put on Diego. The kid adores Diego. If he’s sleepy then you can put him down. If he starts to vomit or if his stool is soft then I have some baby Pepto-Bismol in the bag. If there is any emergency or you need to contact me, I will have my cell phone on and with me at all times.”
Persia stared at my face which had begun to cringe as my eyes twitched slightly with the information overload, “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
I quickly masked the evidence on my face and smiled weakly, “He’ll be fine.”
“I’m more worried about you.” She quipped.
“Shoo, shoo,” I chased her, “Go pump out award winning essays.”
She backed away slowly, “If you’re sure.”
“I am.” I smiled a bit brighter this time. Baby Joshua noticed that his mom was leaving and started to cry. I bounced him up and down on my hip, “Don’t cry little Joshua. See Mom’s left you with Auntie Susan.”
I lifted his little hand to wave good bye to his mom and then took the tyke inside. Mia greeted me at the door.
“And who is this adorable baby.” She cooed in baby talk.
Joshua gave her a look that clearly communicated ‘you must think I’m a fool’.
“I don’t think he appreciates baby talk,” I informed Mia, after a careful perusal of Joshua’s face.
“Of course he does,” She insisted, “Come here little one.”
Joshua held on to my neck but I pried him off and shoved him into Mia’s arms. He was getting kind of heavy. I quickly sent a text to Archie.
SUSAN: WE’RE HAVING A BABY!
Not two seconds later, Archie responded,
ARCHIE: WHAT???
Before he could start freaking out, wondering if I’d cheated on him, or if I was the mother of the anti-Christ, I explained. Quickly snapping a photo of Joshua playing enthusiastically on the floor with a few color swatches, I sent the picture to Archie. He texted back the ‘relief’ emoji. I grinned.
SUSAN: WE’LL B BY LATER. BUY SPAGHETTI-O’S
Archie did not reply but I assumed, he’d gotten the message. Either way, the kid would eat tonight if I had to go out and hand craft the noodles myself.
“You want to head out early?” Mia asked me.
“Nah, we’re good. He seems to be content for the next few hours at least.”
I was dead wrong. After about ten minutes, Joshua got himself into the storage room and colored over many of Mia’s sketches. Thank God she kept photocopies of each of them. When I pulled him away from that and handed him my keys to play with, he stuck it in his mouth and I had to take it away. My phone buzzed and I glanced down for a second to answer it.
ARCHIE: HOW’S OUR BABY.
SUSAN: HE’S KILLING ME
ARCHIE: LOL. I CAN COME FOR YOU NOW IF YOU WANT.
SUSAN: PLEASE
I glanced up to where Joshua had only seconds ago been playing with the toy cars that his mother had sent in his baby bag. The baby was nowhere in sight.
“Joshua, Joshua?” I called.
Mia finished helping a customer and came to stand beside me, “Did you lose the little terror?”
She was still kind of ticked about the whole sketchbook thing and I think a part of her was glad that Joshua was lost… I mean misplaced.
“Yeah,”
She remained calm, “I’ll look over here and you go to the back.”
I nodded and walked slowly, my eyes to the ground. I looked underneath the dress racks and then ventured into the back room searching for him. “Joshua!” I called again. I headed to the dressing rooms and found the first one empty. The second one was locked. I peeked underneath it and found Joshua preening at himself in the three way mirror.
“Joshua!” I chided with my face to the floor, “Unlock the door.”
He grinned at me and waved his hand as if to say goodbye. “Joshua!” I cried. I got up and wrestled with the door. It held tight. I dropped to my hands and knees and placed my face to the opening under the door.
“Joshua I-don’t-know-your-middle name Banner, you crawl toward me or unlock this door right now!”
“Or not,” I heard a voice say, “I’m enjoying the view.”
I craned my neck to see Archie walking toward me.
“If that was supposed to be a compliment about my butt… then thank you. But there are more important things to deal with right now than my behind.”
He glanced at me and then bent to survey the little guy behind the door. Archie stood, “He won’t open the door?”
I shook my head, “Or crawl back toward me.”
He surveyed the situation, “I can break open the door.”
I winced, “Please don’t. We already sort of ruined Mia’s sketches. I’d like for that to be the only damage.”
He nodded. “Okay, could you get me a ladder or step stool?”
I nodded and rushed off to get the tool. Archie fixed the ladder to the open stall directly beside the cage locking in our little fiend and pranced up the steps. He hiked his leg over the divide and dropped deftly into the small open closet.
“Did you squish him?” I asked with worry in my voice.
“Maybe a little but he’ll live.”
I gasped, “Archie!”
The door swung open and Archie stood in the entryway, triumphantly holding Joshua. “He’s fine, Vegan.” He reached over and kissed me on the forehead. Joshua used our huddled heads as an opportunity to grab my hair in his fists.
“Ouch,” I grumbled, extricating my mane from his grip and leaving a few locks in the palm of his hand.
Archie laughed at my pain and we strolled out of the changing room areas.
“You found him,” Mia said, attempting to be enthusiastic.
“Yeah, we’re gonna head out now before he does any more damage.”
“Okay,” Mia nodded seriously. “Bye little guy.”
Joshua leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, squealing when he jumped ba
ck.
“Aw,” Mia swiped at the spit on her face, “that was almost kind of sweet.”
“Yeah, he’s a teddy bear when he wants to be,” I figured. “Well, see yah later.” I called after my boss.
“Bye guys!” She sent a special wave Joshua’s way and he giggled.
Since Belize did not seem to have strict laws about babies and car seats, I held Joshua in my lap as Archie drove to his house. When we got inside, I set the DVD player with the Diego disc that Persia had left me and collapsed into the sofa beside Archie. Joshua chose to squiggle out of our hold and watch his favorite show from the floor. Archie smoothed my wrinkled brow.
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad, babe.”
I gave him a look and then explained all that Joshua had done to Mia’s Designs. Archie whistled low.
“The kid has energy. All munchkins do.”
“Don’t defend him,” I said, “he knew that he was torturing me. I could see it in his eyes.”
Archie laughed, “Geez, if you’re that afraid of one two year old imagine the dozen that we’re going to have.”
I glared at him, “After today, you’re not allowed to joke about having a dozen kids.”
“Yes ma’am,” Archie replied with a roguish grin. Patting him on the leg, I got up and stretched.
“I need to go make the spaghetti-o’s,”
He tugged on my arm and gently returned me to the couch. “Why don’t you let me make it?”
“You’d do that?”
Archie shrugged and stood up, “It’s just spaggeti-o’s. I can’t mess that up.”
I snagged his tie and jerked him down for a quick kiss leaving things rated G for the kid. I didn’t want to scar him before he had a chance. Archie grinned at my restraint before sauntering to the kitchen to prepare our easy meal. Half-way into the show, Archie brought the artificial spaghetti into the living room.
“Wait!” I called as the tattooed, bearded hunk tried to hand Joshua the bowl without any protection. I quickly rummaged through his baby bag for a bib and then spread a plastic sheet underneath him so that he didn’t make a mess on the ground.
“Okay,” I nodded my acquiesce, “Go ahead.”
Archie handed Joshua the bowl and spoon and the little tyke wreaked havoc on the plastic covering. Thank God for hindsight.
“Look at you, being all motherly,” Archie teased, settling back into the couch to watch the baby cartoon.
“I mean, some of it isn’t so bad. Like Diego for instance. He’s young but he’s kind of cute…”
Archie laughed and tickled my side, “Are you seriously hitting on a children’s cartoon character, Susan?”
“Hey,” I defended, laughing hard, “Some people are attracted to Simba in the Lion King Movie so don’t judge me.”
“That’s crazy,” Archie protested.
“Well, that doesn’t mean people like that don’t exist.”
Archie shook his head. We ate the rest of our spaghetti-o’s and watched the end of Diego in silence. When the DVD went blank, Joshua looked up at us as if to say, what now. I mirrored his expression and turned to Archie communicating for the baby, “What now?”
Archie smoothed his beard and grinned, “Uh, now we play in the backyard.”
“Yay! Let’s go play outside.” I picked up Joshua and ushered him through the house to the backdoor off the kitchen. I stepped onto the lawn and let him roam free. He ran around for a bit and then Archie decided to play Monster vs. Baby. He followed Joshua’s little darts around the yard and the baby squealed with glee. As I observed how well Archie was doing with the child, I got all kinds of romantic notions into my head.
He’d be a good daddy.
The thought made me feel very content.
“Monster eat Susan.” Archie growled turning his attention to me and holding out his hands like claws. Joshua laughed, clapping his hands enthusiastically in approval of Archie’s change in direction.
The little traitor.
“Noooooo!” I ran and scooped up the baby, purposely holding Joshua before me as a shield. “Take the child. He’s younger and has fresher meat.”
Joshua wriggled free from my grasp and I put him on the soft grass before he slipped out of my hand and died. I would hate to have to explain that one to Persia. When I set him down, Archie pounced on me. He grabbed my shoulders and tipped us over backward so that I landed on his solid stomach. In one smooth move, he twisted us around so that I was beneath him. The grass scratched at my back, kind of like the way his beard tickled as he nuzzled my neck.
“Whoa,” I pushed him up, “Little eyes are here. I’m keeping things Rated G.”
He tilted his head and honestly, I kind of stopped breathing because my guy was foine.
“Not even PG 13?” he questioned.
His words took a bit longer to register but when they did, I smiled.
“PG 13 is pretty much a step down from Rated R nowadays. Let’s not mess the kid up for life.”
Archie laughed softly. To our surprise, Joshua perceived our positions in the grass as some kind of human compost heap. He yelled like Tarzan as he flung himself unto our backs and knocked the wind out of me. My first instinct was to fling him back the way he came but I stopped myself just in time. When Joshua was tired of that game, he scrambled off my back and returned to running around the yard.
“I’m tired. Aren’t you tired?” I panted, rolling over in the grass and hefting up my torso on bent elbows.
Archie shrugged and sat up, “I’m okay. I’m glad I have a backyard though. I can’t imagine that kid unleashing all his energy inside a house.”
“And Persia’ house is so small.” I mused, thinking about the dangerous neighborhood that they were living in and the cramped quarters of their ramshackle residence.
“Uh-oh, what are you thinking?”
“How do you know I’m thinking anything?”
“You think I don’t know you by now?” he asked.
I looked away, “They need a house with a backyard, Archie.”
He turned his gaze to the child running up and down in the grass and trying to climb the mango tree arching near the fence.
He sighed, “You’re going to stress about this until we do something, aren’t you.”
It was a statement. He already knew the answer.
I put my arms around his waist and watched Joshua play.
“You’re going to be a good daddy someday,” I said instead.
He squeezed me tight. “Flattery will get you very far with me, Vegan.”
I laughed, “Thanks for the heads-up.”
A few hours later, after a bath and another round of the sexy Diego cartoon (don’t judge me), Joshua fell asleep lying on Archie’s lap. Soon after, Persia came to pick up her son.
“I hope he didn’t destroy anything too expensive,” She said quietly as she accepted the baby bag from me.
Archie and I shared a glance, “No, he was perfect.” I quipped.
She rolled her eyes, “Yeah right. Thank you so much for this, Susan.” Persia turned to me. “If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask me.”
“You’re welcome, Persia and I will. Have a good night.” Persia carried her son to the waiting taxi and they disappeared from sight.
Archie closed the door and sighed.
“Lay it on me.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“The idea that it’s in your pretty little head right now, lay it on me.”
I smiled, overcome by my love for this man which far out shadowed any infatuation that I’d had with Brian.
“Okay, here’s what I’m thinking…”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Archie stared at me like I’d grown two heads. Almost an hour had passed since Persia had collected baby Joshua. We sat around the dining room table, my hands clasped firmly in front of me as I explained the vision that I had in my head for my new friends.
“Okay, babe,” Archie massaged th
e bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, “You want to build these guys a house, in a good neighborhood with a backyard. Is that the basics?”
“Yes,” I nodded my head enthusiastically.
Archie’s eyes bugged, “Are you nuts?”
I frowned, offended by his words and tone, “I’m not crazy. I think it’s a great idea.”
“It’s good in theory,” Archie pointed out, “but do you know how expensive a plot of land is on the North Side? Even your apartment has a hefty rent.”
“Which I pay every month with my job at Mia’s.” I explained, attempting to be patient, “I think this is something that I’m supposed to do.”
“How are we going to do this? You’re still in school and I have student loans and… why are you looking at me like that?” He said, frustration lacing his tone.
“Because you said we.”
Archie rolled his eyes, not in the mood for the mushy stuff right now.
“Focus, please. I don’t want you to get disappointed when reality strikes.”
“I’m studying law. I’m well versed in reality. But we don’t function in this world alone. We have two passports, remember? And what kind of King doesn’t take care of his citizens?” I asked, “He’ll work something out. Plus, I have some money saved up that I was supposed to buy a car with.”
“How much?” Archie folded his arms.
I narrowed my eyes at him, “Fifteen.”
“Hundred?”
“Thousand. U.S. so that’s about thirty thousand Belize dollars”
“Susan,” Archie leaned toward me, “Even if you do decide to give all your money away to this cause, a good plot on the North side will take at least $20,000 out of that. Labor is another thirty. Babe, I’m not trying to discourage you, I just want you to sleep on this.”
“Fine.” I got up, miffed that he’d rained on my parade.
Archie grasped my hand, “I love that you’re so generous.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “If you sleep on it and you still have this desire then I’m all in. But please, think hard about what you’re proposing because building a house with little money is going to be complicated and frustrating.”